Handkerchief blouse



1951 v. MURPHEY ,5 0

HANDKERCHIEF BLOUSE Filed July 1. 1949 T' iE.7

IN V EN TOR. ZZZZZZZM 4 Patented Aug. 21, 1951 HANDKEBCHIEF BLOUSE Virginia Murphey, Urbana, Ohio Application July 1, 1949, Serial No. 102,679

2 Claims.

My present invention relates primarily to ladies wearing apparel, though not necessarily limited thereto, and embodies a garment which is made up in its entirety of handkerchiefs, eachused as a whole without cutting or changing in the production of the apparel article.

The object. of the invention in using handkerchiefs in the manner above stated is to enable the garment, as for instance a ladys blouse. to be disassembled from its original condition, in which it comprises an assembly of stitched together handkerchiefs, after the garment has been used as long as desired or after it has become worn. Thus, it is not necessary to discard the garment because the handkerchiefs when separated from one another may be suitably laundered and, if none of them is too badly worn or torn, said handkerchiefs may all be utilized for handkerchief purposes after being suitablycleaned and laundered. f

In a specific embodiment I contemplate preferably the making of ladies blouses of the assembled and stitched together handkerchiefs which may be of uniform size, or where the size of the blouse or other article of wearing apparel, or where the requirements so permit or make desirable, the handkerehiefs may be of different sizes or'may be a combination of men's and ladies handkerchiefs.

In carrying out my invention I illustrate and describe the same herein in its adaptation for the making of ladies blouses or waists and one embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a lady's blouse made up of assembled, stitched together, handerchiefs in accordance with the invention, the view being a front view.

Figure 2 is a rear view of the waist shown in Figure 1.

Figures 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 are sectional views taken on the lines 3-3, 4-4, 5- 5, 6-8, and 1-1 as found upon one or the other of Figures 1' and 2.

Describing the specific embodiment of my invention'illustrated in the foregoing it is notable that the blouse shown in Figures 1 and 2. comprises the front portion made up of four handkerchiefs, I, and the rear or back portion likewise made up of four handkerchiefs, 2. The front and back of the blouse are stitched together along the shoulder portions at 3 by stitching connecting the upper edges of the front two handkerchiefs, I, and the upper edges of the back two handkerchiefs, 2,

2 the hemmed portions of the handkerchiefs being undisturbed but turned slightly inwardly so as to underlie the shoulder portions of the blouse. Portions of the upper seam edges of the upper front handkerchiefs, I, and the upper rear handkerchiefs, 2, are left unstitched so as to provide the neck opening '4 of the blouse, the irmer upper corner of the upper front two handkerchiefs, I, being left free and turned outwardly to a point about midway of the upper half of the blouse front section to form neck flaps, 5, at the neck opening producing a V neck effect. The flaps at the edges of the handkerchiefs so folded outwardly and creased to provide the V neck portion are finished by the original stitching of the hemmed edges of the handkerchiefs. Below the V neck opening provided as above described, are utilized the usual buttons, 6, for buttoning the waist at the front since the two front side handkerchiefs, I, at one side of the blouse are left unstitched from the two front side handkerchiefs, I, at the other side of the blouse for facilitating putting the blouse on the body.

Each upper front handkerchief, I, is sewed to the lower front handkerchief adjacent thereto but overlapping a portion of the two upper handkerchiefs as shown at I, about an inch over the lower handkerchiefs I, and in like manner the upper two handkerchiefs, 2, at the back of the blouse overlap as seen at 8, the lower adjacent two handkerchiefs permanently sewed thereto, the overlapp g portion I being quite clearly shown in Figure 7 of the drawing and it being apparent that the finished hems of the handkerchiefs remain undisturbed.

Of course, since the back of the blouse is entirely closed, the inner edges of the upper and lower handkerchiefs 2 are attached together along the vertical central line of the garment and in sewing the upper back sections together the inner hem portions of the handkerchiefs as shown at 9 in Figure 3, the fold edges being sewed at III and the folded portions 9 being tacked to the inner face of the side handkerchiefs, 2, near the shoulder portions of the garment and near the waist portions.

Figure 5 of the drawings illustrates how the lower back two handkerchiefs, 2, are double folded as shown at II to reduce the fullness of the lower portion of the blouse below the waist, if desired. To this same end tucks I 2 may be taken in the front lower handkerchiefs, I, and the rear lower handkerchiefs, 2, vertically, if desired.

At the shoulder portions of the garment the hemmed edges of the front and rear of each pair of front and rear handkerchiefs, l and 2, are folded inwardly without disturbing the hemmed structure of the handkerchiefs and underlie the breast and back portions of the blouse at the shoulder openings as indicated at It in Fi e 4.

It is believed that with the foregoing explanation of the structure of the blouse of my invention it will clearly be seen that under no conditions in the assembly of the handkerchiefs intothe blouse by suitable stitching or sewing together will any individual handkerchief be mutilated, cut, or altered as respects the use of the whole material of the handkerchief. Therefore, when the blouse is worn out, or its use is desired to be discontinued, it is only necessary that the owner shall separate the blouse assembled handkerchiefs into their individual condition, whereupon, since each handkerchief is suitably hemmed and complete, it may be readily laundered and employed for the purpose of handkerchiefs solely or, if desired, the

handkerchiefs might again be assembled into a complete article of wearing apparel such as a blouse. I do not wish to be limited to the specific details and manner of assembly of the handkerchiefs used in my blouse or other article of wearing apparel because in many ways the style of the blouse orapparel article may be changed and the individual maker of the blouse may embody the handkerchiefs into its complete structure in accordance with the whim or taste of the producer of the garment. The principles of my invention will always be utilized in one way or another as above described.

As shown in the drawings, the lower handkerchiefs I and 2 at the outer edges of each pair are sewed together adjacent their outer hems, and the similar portions of the upper front and rear handkerchief are sewed together just below the arm holes to close the blouse at the sides below said arm holes.

It will be apparent that the front and back portions of the blouse, each comprised of four handkerchiefs sewed together as shown, comprise substantially identical panels. Further, each half of the front of the blouse, including an upper and lower handkerchief likewise form substantially identical panel sections, the same being made of right and left hand sections by folding the upper corner of one of each of the upper handkerchiefs to form the collar.

Likewise, the back of the blouse comprises a panel formed by sewing together two substantially identical half panels, each including an upper and lower handkerchief.

Having thus described my invention what I 4 claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States. is:

1. As a new article of manufacture, a blouse comprising a plurality of hemmed complete and uncut handkerchiefs, the upper portion of the blouse comprising four handkerchiefs arranged in front and rear pairs, the upper edges of the handkerchiefs of the said pairs being stitched together at the outer shoulder portions and leftunstitched adjacent to the neck portion of the blouse to provide a neck opening, the outer edges of said front and rear pairs of handkerchiefs being stitched together near the waist portion of the blouse and left unstitched upwardly there: from so as to provide arm openings, the inner edges of said front pair of handkerchiefs being unstitched for separation to permit body entrance to the blouse, the inner adjacent edges of said upper rear pair of handkerchiefs being stitched together to provide a continuous upper back portion for the garment, the lower portion of the blouse comprising two lower front handkerchiefs and two lower rear handkerchiefs, each of which at its upper edge is stitched to the lower edge of the adjacent handkerchief of the upper portion of the blouse, each two lower front and rear handkerchiefs being stitched together at the adjacent outer edges, all of said handkerchiefs being separable from associated attached ones by cutting of stitching for enabling use thereof for handkerchief purposes.

2. A blouse as claimed in claim 1, in which the inner vertical edges of the upper front pair of handkerchiefs are provided with detachable fastening means to connect and disconnect them; in which the upper inner corners of the said upper front pair of handkerchiefs are folded outwardly to provide neck flaps adjacent the neck opening; also in which the inner adjacent vertical edges of the two rear and lower handkerchiefs are stitched together, and the inner adjacent vertical edges of the two lower front handkerchiefs are left unstitched for body entrance purposes.

VIRGINIA MURPHEY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,017,781 Matthews Feb. 20, 1912 1,421,053 Winchester June 2'7, 1922 1,598,327 Stingel Aug. 31, 1926 2,423,170 Blair July 1. 1947 

